Okay, I have a question for all of you lovely people. It's been the controversy of my wedding. Me and FH and parents like the idea (and so does our DJ, incidentally) but the wedding coordinator at our wedding venue doesn't think it will work. Here's the idea: Our ceremony is at 4 pm and the reception is at the same location, so the ceremony and cocktail hour will be over by 6 at the latest. We wanted to enter, do our first dance, and open up the dance floor for everyone to dance with us for about a half hour to sort of break the ice and take away the stigma of the dance floor early on in the recemption. And then have the blessing 2 toasts and dinner. That would mean dinner would be around 6:45 or 7. And we're having lots of appetizers at the cocktail hour. The coordinator thinks people will be hungry and we CAN'T do it. I don't see what the big deal is. Some people with who have a later ceremony don't serve dinner til 8 or 9. Have you ever been to a wedding where dinner wasn't the first thing to happen at the reception and how did it go? Did you like it?
We have somewhat of a similar situation. Our reception site it about thirty minutes away from the reception location, so guests will be waiting about an hor (at least) for us to get to the reception. It's kind of unavoidable, so we are going to have appetizer during the wait. Plus, we having an evening wedding, and the ceremony isn't until 6:30 p.m. So, dinner won't be until 8:30 or so.
I think you should go for it. It takes peoples' minds off of "where's dinner?" It says "hold your horses, it's a-comin'" And it encourages people to mingle and not feel tied down to their assigned seats. Ultimately, do what you want! DInner is still at a decent hour and I think it's unique. And Lord knows we don't need another identical wedding..timeline and all!
I had a very similar timeline at my wedding and it turned out great! We had the ceremony and reception at the same location and had a cocktail hour with appetizers. When we were introduced into the reception, we walked right onto the dance floor and into our first dance. After our dance, both of the fathers gave their speech and then we started dinner. So we didn't have the group come up and dance with us, but because we had already had our dance that was enough to open up the dance floor and other couples got up on their own towards the end of dinner. As far as times - our ceremony was at 6pm and we probably started dinner around 8:30pm and we never heard a single complaint about guests being hungry. The appetizers were enough to hold them over and they loved the change of having us dance at the beginning. It broke up all the formal dances and seemed to make the night flow very well.
Okay, I have a question for all of you lovely people. It's been the controversy of my wedding. Me and FH and parents like the idea (and so does our DJ, incidentally) but the wedding coordinator at our wedding venue doesn't think it will work. Here's the idea: Our ceremony is at 4 pm and the reception is at the same location, so the ceremony and cocktail hour will be over by 6 at the latest. We wanted to enter, do our first dance, and open up the dance floor for everyone to dance with us for about a half hour to sort of break the ice and take away the stigma of the dance floor early on in the recemption. And then have the blessing 2 toasts and dinner. That would mean dinner would be around 6:45 or 7. And we're having lots of appetizers at the cocktail hour. The coordinator thinks people will be hungry and we CAN'T do it. I don't see what the big deal is. Some people with who have a later ceremony don't serve dinner til 8 or 9. Have you ever been to a wedding where dinner wasn't the first thing to happen at the reception and how did it go? Did you like it?
posted by klheasley 11 posts 2 months agoWe have somewhat of a similar situation. Our reception site it about thirty minutes away from the reception location, so guests will be waiting about an hor (at least) for us to get to the reception. It's kind of unavoidable, so we are going to have appetizer during the wait. Plus, we having an evening wedding, and the ceremony isn't until 6:30 p.m. So, dinner won't be until 8:30 or so.
posted by Bridemarie 39 posts 2 months agoI think you should go for it. It takes peoples' minds off of "where's dinner?" It says "hold your horses, it's a-comin'" And it encourages people to mingle and not feel tied down to their assigned seats. Ultimately, do what you want! DInner is still at a decent hour and I think it's unique. And Lord knows we don't need another identical wedding..timeline and all!
posted by gracielou 90 posts 2 months agoThanks for the opinions. That makes me feel better.
posted by klheasley 11 posts 2 months agoI had a very similar timeline at my wedding and it turned out great! We had the ceremony and reception at the same location and had a cocktail hour with appetizers. When we were introduced into the reception, we walked right onto the dance floor and into our first dance. After our dance, both of the fathers gave their speech and then we started dinner. So we didn't have the group come up and dance with us, but because we had already had our dance that was enough to open up the dance floor and other couples got up on their own towards the end of dinner. As far as times - our ceremony was at 6pm and we probably started dinner around 8:30pm and we never heard a single complaint about guests being hungry. The appetizers were enough to hold them over and they loved the change of having us dance at the beginning. It broke up all the formal dances and seemed to make the night flow very well.
posted by coralblue7 1 posts 1 month ago